Bar ‘Yes’ Politicians From Israel Parade
Should politicians who can make decisions favorable to Israel yet choose not to be allowed to tout themselves as “friends of Israel”?
This is a time when our elected officials are deciding whether Iran will, at some point in the not too distant future, have a full-blown, fully legitimized nuclear program that is an existential threat to Israel and the U.S.
They can vote “yes” or “no,” and I think those voting “yes” when the “no” option is available to them should not be counted as Israel’s friends or invited to march in next year’s Celebrate Israel parade.
Why won’t the Celebrate Israel organizers announce right now, loud and clear, that no politician who votes “yes” on the Iran agreement will be invited to the 2016 parade?
Lev Tsitrin
(Via E-Mail)
Schumer Feels The Heat (I)
We see from the reaction to Senator Schumer’s decision to vote “no” on Obama’s Iran agreement that anti-Semitism cloaked as anti-Zionism is alive and well even in the more mainstream precincts of the left.
Liberal and left-wing organizations are calling on their members to withhold any contributions to Schumer’s reelection effort next year, and editorial cartoons and reader comments on popular liberal and left-wing websites are portraying Schumer as a lackey of Israel who is disloyal to America. Even administration spokespeople have reacted to Schumer’s announcement with threats and innuendo.
And yet I think it’s safe to assume that come November 2016, Hillary Clinton (or whoever else the Democratic presidential nominee might be) will easily win a majority of Jewish votes. The sad fact is that with the exception of the Orthodox, American Jews are rabid liberals for whom Israel ranks relatively low on their list of priorities.
Chaim Gelb
(Via E-Mail)
Schumer Feels The Heat (II)
The clock that was running (“Senator Schumer Dithers As the Clock Runs,” editorial, Aug. 7) has now been stopped with the welcome news that Senator Schumer has followed his conscience by announcing that he disapproves of the Iran deal, which, as you wrote, has more holes than Swiss cheese.
It took no time at all for the Obama administration react with vitriol and calumny to Schumer’s decision. What is also very troubling is Obama’s less than subtle warning that Israel will suffer the consequences if Congress withholds approval of a deal that Iran and its terrorists allies celebrate as an unmitigated triumph.
The existential dangers Israel faces are very real and very serious.
Fay Dicker
Lakewood, NJ
A Terrorist Nuclear Power
The problem with the Iran agreement is not just that Iran will become another possessor of nuclear weapons but that Iran will become the world’s first terrorist nuclear power.
For that reason, President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran is a great disaster and the damage to America will be great. While hundreds of thousands of Iranians scream “Death to America,” we pave the way for them to get nuclear bombs and ICBMs to bring those bombs to America.
Arthur Horn
East Windsor, NJ
The Other Side Of The Story
I read the July Albany Beat column (July 17) with great interest. I must tell you, I was confused by the quotes attributed to my colleague Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee.
The column stated, “With tears in her eyes, Jaffee told The Jewish View, a television program taped in Albany, that she has been ostracized by her observant Jewish colleagues, Assemblymen Dov Hikind (D-Midwood, Brooklyn), Sheldon Silver (D-Lower East Side, Manhattan), David Weprin (D-Holliswood, Queens), Michael Simanowitz (D-Electchester, Queens), Phillip Goldfeder (D-Far Rockaway, Queens). ‘They refused to have any conversation at all,’ she said on the air.”
What is shocking to me is Assemblywoman Jaffee’s assertion that I in any way refused to have any conversation at all. Prior to the floor debate, Assemblywoman Jaffee never sought me out to discuss my feeling on the legislation. In fact, when I asked her if she would be willing to meet with representatives of the school board to discuss a compromise, she flat out refused. We did have an opportunity to discuss her legislation during the debate. Assemblywoman Jaffee, unfortunately, was not interested in responding to my questions.
For me, the debate was completely based on what I perceived to be the dangerous precedent this legislation would set. The characterization of me as one of the “observant Jewish colleagues” implies that my objections were based on religion, race, or anti-Semitism. I will not speak for my colleagues, but I assert that all one need do is watch my exchange with Assemblywoman Jaffee to see that religion had nothing to do with my objections.
Assemblywoman Jaffee also failed to mention that immediately following the vote I approached her, congratulated her, and reiterated my reservations and my willingness to work on a solution.
Dialogue and constructive discord are keys to crafting good legislation.
Assemblyman Michael Simanowitz
(Via E-Mail)
Talibanism In Our Midst
I am disgusted and infuriated. There is no end, it seems, to the fanaticism that is growing like poison ivy among elements in the Orthodox world. There are no longer any red lines at which the fanatics are willing to stop. In their convoluted extremism they will go to any length to justify their brand of Judaic Talibanism.
Yishai Schlissel, having served ten years in prison for the attempted murder of three marchers in an Israeli gay pride parade, was released a few weeks ago and immediately proceeded to repeat his sick outrage. This time, however, he succeeded in murdering a teenage girl and seriously injuring five others. (“Political, Religious Leaders Condemn Fatal Attack at Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade,” news story, Aug. 7).
Life in solitary would be too short a sentence for this creature.
The outrage hardly ends there, though. Signs and posters immediately appeared in haredi areas of Jerusalem screaming out adulation, admiration, and gratitude for the murderer and his bloody deed and comparing him to Pinchas HaKohen. How low have we gone?
A few words to the killer: Don’t grow overly pleased when you read those ignorant and hateful signs. You are no Pinchas. Your act defiles his name. The killing you committed was an ugly murder, and you are no different from the slaughterers of Har Nof or the murderers of the Hatuel family. They killed for hate and you hated enough to kill.
Here’s wishing the soul of the girl you murdered will haunt all your remaining days and nights.
Isaac Kohn
Brooklyn, NY